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All is suave contemporary correctness at this enviably located luxury hotel whose Panorama Bar overlooks the square of the Bolshoi Theatre. The cleverly designed atrium avoids the usual airport concourse feel and the lobby is actually a pleasant place to meet your colleagues. Part-financed by Armenian magnates, the hotel occupies a spot once favoured by Armenian intellectuals (and others) as a café. Although everything else in the hotel is high-tech, one tiny corner of traditionalism remains in the Armenian café adjoining the main lobby. Its sumptuous (yet remarkably mid-priced) cuisine is prepared by the former chef of the president of Armenia, who was head-hunted for the hotel.
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AST-Gof is not at all central, but would be of interest to anyone whose business in Moscow involves the Expo Centre, as it is the nearest acceptable hotel to the exhibition site (although still not close). Rooms are clean and tidy in the Scandinavian style and multilingual helpful staff work at reception— everything you’d expect in a three-star hotel, in fact. There is an attractive park directly opposite the hotel, which is 10 minutes’ walk from Bagrationovskaya metro. One meeting room is available.
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One of the city’s longest-lasting five-star contenders, the Kempinski has been providing high-end accommodation since 1992. The stunning location on the riverside separates it from the city centre, but places it among the offices of oil companies, banks and pension funds in this affluent neighbourhood. Purpose-built, the designers foresaw the need for conference facilities in a Moscow that then sorely lacked them—up to 200 people can attend meetings at the hotel. If the room rates aren’t a problem for you, the walking distance to the nearest Metro is unlikely to worry you much either.
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Golden Apple is Moscow’s only candidate for hip hotel status, but while the post-modernist designs (and the Golden Apple itself, which fills the entire lobby) meet the criteria with aplomb, there’s still something slightly creaky about the management style. Russians just don’t do laid-back/relaxed very well, though it isn’t for lack of trying, and they’ve set themselves a high target here which they may well hit. In the heart of theatre-land they clearly pitch at a luvvy clientele. LenKom Theatre is around the corner, Novaya Opera on the next street and the area throbs with the louche lounges beloved of the smart, moneyed, young set.
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A breath of Scandinavian fresh air among the otherwise heavily traditional hotels in the high-end category. Purpose-built into a new office/arts complex, guests here are very likely to be employees of the multinational corporations whose offices are across the footbridge, or perhaps major music artistes appearing at Moscow’s largest and newest concert hall opposite. Up to 130 people can fit into the largest of the hotel’s eight conference rooms. Arrivals on British Airways, Swissair or Trans-Aero will find this hotel within five minutes’ walk of Paveletsky Station, the city end of the AeroExpress train service to Domodedovo Airport.
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The Mayakovskaya location makes this a perennial favourite with those who really know the layout of the city, a short walk to Pushkin Square and with Patriarch’s Ponds just a block or two away. Russian film stars seem to enjoy staying here and can often be seen in the lobby or the health club, which is (unusually) open 24 hours. The Tchaikovsky Concert Hall is a few steps across the road. Seven meeting rooms offer a total space of 855 square meters.
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A mere pas de deux from the Bolshoi Theatre, the Royal Aurora prides itself on being the most expensive hotel in town. Pavarotti and former President Bush (Snr) figure among the recent recipients of its 'personal butler service’, which is offered to all rooms, not only those of operatic tenors. Although it’s in the very centre of the city, only the lobby looks onto a traffic-lined street (Petrovka). The rooms overlook the chic (and quiet) pedestrian thoroughfares of boutiques and cafés behind the hotel. Five discreet meeting rooms are available for discussions and conventions. In-house dining is of the finest imaginable quality, although the nearby environs of the hotel are lined with equally good choices by way of variety.
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The smallest of the three Marriott properties in the city, this hotel has turned this into a virtue and is well known for charming and friendly personal service. Located a stone’s throw from Belarussky Station, this is as far north as one could fairly call the centre (which is defined by all Muscovites as the Circle Line of the Metro system). Without a swimming pool, it notches up only four stars, but in every other respect the comfort level isn’t different from the two other properties.
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Grandiloquent opulence in the Empire style defines the second of Moscow’s true period hotels. The murals are by Vrubel, the wallpapers (sadly gone) were by Bakst—but the service, sadly, is by fishwives. This miserably managed hotel is a classic example of what happens when money is saved by employing the cheapest available staff. It’s desperately sad that this marvelous old hotel, restored at immense cost to show that the former Soviet tourism monolith Intourist could 'compete with the world’s best’, fails so utterly. Console yourself with the fine location, opposite the Bolshoi Theatre, if you’ve had no say in being quartered here. The rooms, when they eventually give you your key, are very nice. The restaurant’s interiors are a national treasure, its service isn’t. Conference facilities seat up to 300 attendees.
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Some people travel to see the sights, others travel to stay in them. Lenin’s socialist principles didn’t stop him checking into Moscow’s smartest new (1913) belle époque hotel when he moved the capital back to Moscow in 1918—and he stayed for several years. Magnificently restored and now in the safe hands of the Meridien group, the National can pip any other property on location. It’s just 100 metres from Red Square (some rooms look onto it) with marvelous views of the Kremlin next door. In place of contract carpet and beige wallpaper, the corridors of the National are lined with priceless antiques and paintings, as are the rooms. This is where you flaunt it if you’ve got it.
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Accor Group’s city centre offering (it has another at Scheremetyevo Airport) is discreet and proper, and fits alongside a prestigious Arts Complex at the same [address]. Without the punch that world-famous sights from the windows can give, this is a business hotel centred on doing business, substance instead of swank. Mendeleevskaya metro is two steps from the hotel, putting Pushkin Square and the Kremlin (Borovitskaya) within five minutes. Five conference rooms can seat up to 238 attendees.
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The Radisson group conceived this as an entire 'village’ development in 1991, and the complex includes not only the hotel itself, but also a multiplex cinema (whose fate now seems uncertain), shops, a casino and various other mall-style facilities. Conferences are a big draw for this hotel, which can seat up to 1,000 attendees. The area seems picturesque on the Moskva River (sightseeing boats leave from a quay nearby), but the monolithic Kievsky railway station not only spoils the view but brings with it the usual social problems that hang around railway stations. The hotel is now fenced off from the surroundings. However, it’s more depressing than actually dangerous and shouldn’t restrict your movements. The bright lights of the Garden Ring beckon from close by.
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One of the first purpose-built Western hotels (then under the Penta brand) in 1991, the location could, frankly, be more central. It’s a perfect convention hotel, however, and everything is under one roof and well thought out. And conventions are big business for this hotel, whose facilities can seat up to 800 delegates at once (in different rooms, obviously). It’s also reasonably located for access to the Sokloniki Conference Centre. Moderate prices (by Moscow’s inflated standards) make this a popular business choice.
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Only one thing has saved this grim hotel from long-promised demolition: its sheer ugly enormity puts the project beyond the budget of even the average Russian oligarch. Bumbling incompetence and barely concealed rudeness greet the unlucky guest whose only reward is a super location overlooking St Basil’s Cathedral in Red Square. With no renovation since its construction in 1967, the asking price is still less than $100 for standard rooms. Demolition is now scheduled for 2006, but if this fails, the Rossiya could have a future as a prison or a boot camp. Up to 200 delegates can be incarcerated in the largest of its three conference halls.
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The first five-star hotel in the city, the Sheraton is senior enough to have already had a makeover. If one remembers that the real heart of the city is Pushkin Square (Red Square is merely a ceremonial parade ground), then this is quite central, and in good company as the Marriott Tverskaya is just across the road. The recent alterations introduced 12 meeting rooms for conference and convention use. Upgrade your stay to the Towers Floor and there are more electronics in your room than a KGB listening centre—fax, CD player, etc. In-house dining in this hotel is especially good, and it quietly carries out the bakery functions of one or two other foreign hotels in the city.
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Clunky Soviet grandeur with a makeover, this four-star edifice would appeal to traditionalists, cold warriors and Sovietologists. Piled over the Yar cabaret-restaurant in 1952, the peculiarities of Moscow’s climate have softened the garish pink of the marble exterior. Careful remodelling has succeeded in creating some conference facilities (for up to 150 people) from the yawning spaces of the original design. The long hike to the nearest Metro was presumably no inconvenience to the Soviet dignitaries once delivered here by limousine. Although not far from the centre, the [address] has little snob value today. The Romen Romany Theatre is next door, for anyone who’s already finished Gideon’s Bible.
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Newly opened in 2005, Swissotel is the latest pretender to the five-star throne in Moscow. Arranged over 34 floors in an eye-catching tower that dominates the city skyline, it’s directly adjacent to the equally high-tech Music Palace (Dom Muzyky) complex. Stunningly equipped rooms feature ergonomic furniture and broadband internet facilities, espresso machines and flat-screen TVs. There are 11 meeting rooms with full facilities and a purpose-built spa centre. Like the adjacent Kristina, Swissôtel is excellently located for the airport express service to Domodedovo Airport.
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One of the two 'Seven Sisters’ Stalinist high-rise landmarks that serves as a hotel. Located directly opposite the White House, journalists covering Yeltsin’s bombardment of Parliament had a bird’s-eye view from its windows. Moderate prices are one appeal of this hotel, Soviet-retro design is the other, with rooms featuring random colour schemes that include red curtains, brown walls, green bed covers and purple swirly carpets. There is no Metro station within feasible walking distance and there are almost no business facilities in the hotel.
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